Radio This Week Back Then #18: May 19-25
WHTZ “Z100” New York; WNVZ “Z104” Norfolk; CFUL-FM “Fuel 90.3,” CFEX-FM “X92-9,” CIGY-FM Calgary; CFBR-FM “100.3 the Bear” Edmonton; WIOG Saginaw MI; KMGZ “Magic 95.3” Lawton OK
What was on the radio this week…back then. This is a weekly visit back to radio audio from this week in past years for those that enjoy radio history or those working in radio looking for promotional ideas, etc. If you enjoy these weekly audio rewinds, they take a lot of time to put together, so please do me a favor, subscribe, and share and pass it on. Thank you!
I am dispatching this one a bit early for the long Memorial Day weekend upon us. There are 8 brand new airchecks including 7 stations we have yet to visit. The one station we have visited before is Z100 New York. For this week, “the original is back” as the aircheck this week is from this week in 1997, when Z100 had returned to a more mainstream top 40 after skewing rock in the mid-1990s. Over Memorial Day weekend in 2009, I flew up to Calgary to do a road trip through the Canadian Rockies, so I picked a few stations from Calgary and Edmonton for this week as well. Also in there is small market top 40 KMGZ 95.3 “Magic 95” Lawton. It took a bit of unwinding FCC records to figure out how a station that came on the air in 1982 basically didn’t exist until the 1990s in the FCC database system. That riddle is solved below. The full list…
Top 40 WHTZ 100.3 “Z100, Today’s Best Music” New York, May 22 1997
Top 40 WNVZ 104.5 “The New Sound of Z104” Norfolk, May 22 1993
Modern rock CFUL-FM 90.3 “Fuel 90.3, Calgary’s Alternative” Calgary, May 22 2009
Modern rock CFEX-FM 92.9 “X92-9, Calgary’s New Rock Alternative” Calgary, May 22 2009
Hot AC-country CIGY-FM 97.7 “New 97-7” Calgary, May 22 2009
Rock CFBR-FM 100.3 “100.3 the Bear, Edmonton’s Best Rock” Edmonton, May 23 2009
Top 40 WIOG 102.5 Saginaw/Bay City MI, May 23 1992
Top 40 KMGZ 95.3 “Magic 95, Today’s Best Music” Lawton OK, May 22 1998
Enjoy!
“Z100, Today’s Best Music” Date: Thursday, May 22, 1997 (midday) Format: Top 40 DJ: Lisa Taylor
About This Aircheck
“The original is back” referenced in the imaging refers to Z100’s return to mainstream top 40 after a couple of years as a rock-leaning top 40. See RTWBT Number 5 for an aircheck from 1994 during its rock-leaning days.
Although I personally prefer the library of its previous rock-leaning days, this aircheck is pure CHR radio goodness at a time when Z100 was sounding like the biggest CHR in the world — big promotions, strong imaging, great DJs, and so on.
Station Contest: The big promotion was Z100’s “Z Day On The Intrepid” a week away. Artists Erasure, Paula Cole, Duncan Sheik, OMC, and Jon Bon Jovi were slated to play at that concert on the USS Intrepid and Z100 was giving away tickets.
Legal ID: WHTZ 100.3 Newark-New York
The Wallflowers/”One Headlight”
Jocelyn Enriquez/”Do You Miss Me” (remix)
Mark Morrison/”Return Of The Mack”
No Doubt/”Don’t Speak”
Meredith Brooks/”Bitch”
Erasure/”In My Arms”
Hanson/”Mmmbop”
Corona/”Rhythm Of The Night”
Jon Bon Jovi/”Midnight In Chelsea”
Livin’ Joy/”Dreamer”
Profile
“The New Sound of Z104” Date: Saturday, May 22, 1993 6:25PM Format: Top 40 DJ: Shawn O’Brian
About This Aircheck
Z104 has been some form of top 40 now for over 41 years. This aircheck is about a decade after its November 1982 debut and a couple of years before it shifted to a long run as dance/rhythmic-leaning top 40.
Station Contest: The weekend contest on this aircheck is 4 passes to a local movie drafthouse.
Depeche Mode/”Walking In My Shoes”
Silk/”Freak Me”
Spin Doctors/”Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”
Prince & The New Power Generation/”Diamonds And Pearls”
Bon Jovi/”In These Arms”
Ugly Kid Joe/”Busy Bee”
Legal ID: WNVZ 104.5 Norfolk-Newport News
Duran Duran/”Come Undone”
Billy Idol/”Cradle Of Love”
New Order/”Regret”
Brian McKnight (Featuring Vanessa Williams)/”Love Is”
Profile
“Fuel 90.3, Calgary’s Alternative” Date: Friday, May 22, 2009 Format: Modern rock DJ: Mel Risdon
About This Aircheck
In several decades of flying internationally, the only time I have ever had to go through interrogation by the local border patrol was arriving at YYC over the US Memorial Day weekend in 2009. Having only seen the US Rockies and thinking how amazing the Canadian Rockies look in travel guides and such, I thought it would be cool to fly up there, rent a car, and drive up the Icefields Parkway. Perhaps the first security officer didn’t have much of a sense of humor. Asking if I was carrying a long list of banned substances — i.e. are you bringing in marijuana? “No.” And so on…Then, “are you bringing in any steroids?” As a 170 lb skinny guy at the time just trying to be consistent on working out and looking less skinny, I joked, “no, but thanks for asking.” It was then a 1 hour session in a small room unpacking every item in my suitcase to be inspected… Lesson learned: don’t make funny jokes with border security.
After my long delay, I got the rental car and drove downtown to walk around, go up to the observation deck of the Calgary Tower, etc. I recorded a couple of stations while wondering around including the two alternative rock stations.
Not many US markets have had long, sustained dueling modern rock outlets — with L.A.’s KYSR 98.7 “Alt 98.7” and KROQ 106.7 and San Diego’s XETRA-FM 91.1 “91X” and KBZT 94.9 “Alt 94.9” as uncommon exceptions currently. In Calgary, both CFUL-FM and CFEX-FM signed on in 2007, creating a format battle soon after as CFUL-FM signed on as a AAA (see The Calgary Herald article below) and then shifted to modern rock. But, the battle was about to end, as 29 days after this aircheck, CFUL-FM flipped top 40 “Amp 90.3” (with new calls CKMP-FM) on June 20 2009.
2007 saw quite a bit of new players on the Calgary FM dial. Aside from CFUL-FM and CFEX-FM, CKCE-FM 101.5 also signed on during the first half of 2007.
The aircheck for CFUL-FM is a little short — my little portable receiver lost the signal about a half hour into recording.
Sam Roberts/”Where Have All The Good People Gone?”
Matthew Good Band/”Load Me Up”
P.O.D./”Youth Of The Nation”
Mobile/”See Right Through Me”
Stone Temple Pilots/”Sex Type Thing”
Edwin/”Hang Ten”
The Offspring/”You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”
Profile
“X92-9, Calgary’s New Rock Alternative” Date: Friday, May 22, 2009 Format: Modern rock DJ: Greg Beharrell
About This Aircheck
As noted above, both CFUL-FM and CFEX-FM signed on in 2007, with CFEX-FM on the air about two and half months before Fuel launched. With Fuel changing formats about a month after these airchecks, CFEX-FM was the winner in the battle between the two alternative rock outlets. It still maintains the format and “X92-9” branding today.
The Von Bondies/”This Is Our Perfect Crime”
M.I.A./”Paper Planes”
Live/”I Alone”
k-os/”Burning Bridges”
Franz Ferdinand/”No You Girls”
Hawksley Workman/”Striptease”
Nirvana/”Heart-Shaped Box”
Billy Talent/“Rusted From The Rain”
Cage The Elephant/”Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”
Gnarls Barkley/”Crazy”
Stars/”Ageless Beauty”
Arkells/”Ballad Of Hugo Chavez”
Profile
“New 97-7” Date: Friday, May 22, 2009 3:18PM Format: hot AC-country DJ: Phoenix
About This Aircheck
Another one of the relatively new Calgary signals at the time was CIGY-FM, which was a little over a year old at this time. I love a station that does something creative…but was there a lot of demand for a radio station that mixed Katy Perry and Nickelback with Garth Brooks and Sugarland? Maybe not as the initial mix of country, rock, and pop lost the country component in 2010.
Certainly, from time to time, country tunes crossover to other formats, like Luke Combs’ country remake of Tracy Chapman’s 1988’s hit “Fast Car” last year emerging on top 40 outlets. Making a format out of a mix of country and pop full time is something else; it gets tried periodically, but the format hasn’t taken off and never seems to spread to other markets. Charleston WV market’s WKAZ-FM 107.3 mixed country, pop, and classic hits as “Tailgate 107.3” — branded as party/tailgate music — for five and half years between 2014-2020. Charleston is also the US’ 197th largest radio market…so there was not a lot of industry spotlight on it. I can’t think of any other station to try it since.
Station Contest: On Friday afternoons, the weekly contest is “Connect 4 At 4” where callers try to figure out what the connection is between four songs to when a $100 shopping spree.
Paul Brandt/”Risk”
The Killers/”Somebody Told Me”
Colin James/”Into The Mystic”
Sugarland/”It Happens”
Chantal Kreviazuk/”All I Can Do”
The Fray/”You Found Me”
Garth Brooks/”Ain’t Going Down (‘Til The Sun Comes Up)”
Coldplay/”Viva La Vida”
Hedley/”For The Nights I Can’t Remember”
Aaron Pritchett/”Hell Bent For Buffalo”
Bryan Adams/”(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”
Keith Urban/”Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me”
Rod Stewart/”Hot Legs”
Profile
Presently, the station is hot AC CHUP-FM ”C97.7.”
“100.3 the Bear, Edmonton’s Best Rock” Date: Saturday, May 23, 2009 2:24PM Format: Rock DJ: Danaye Maier Note: Recorded from repeater CJAG-FM 92.3 Jasper
About This Aircheck
After arriving in Calgary, I drove an hour west to Banff to spend the night. On Saturday morning, I drove up Alberta Highway 93/The Icefields Parkway that runs through Banff and Jasper National Parks.
On the north end is the small town of Jasper, which has a population of less than 5,000 people and not a lot more. It does have a local 30 watt (thats 0.03 kw) flea-powered FM signal, CJAG-FM 92.3, that relays rocker CFBR-FM 100.3 Edmonton about 310 km (194 miles) to the east-northeast (longer by road). Thus, while grabbing a late lunch for the return drive south to Banff, the digital recorder recorded this aircheck of CFBR-FM in glorious mono, since CJAG-FM did not broadcast in stereo. Apparently, CJAG-FM still relays CFBR-FM, so I included both in the coverage map below to show the distance between relayer and parent station and also the differences between a 30 watt signal and 97 kw one.
No station contest this weekend, but, musically, it was a “Guitar Gods Weekend” on the rock station “with no rules.” As a Canadian rock outlet, the playlist includes some tracks not often heard on a typical American rock outlet.
AC/DC/”Rock ‘N’ Roll Train”
Big Sugar/”The Scene”
Kiss/”I Was Made For Lovin’ You”
The Trews/”Hold Me In Your Arms”
Papa Roach/”Last Resort”
Rev Theory/“Favorite Disease”
Jimi Hendrix/”Foxey Lady”
Foo Fighters/”The Pretender”
The Tragically Hip/”Courage”
The Offspring/”Hammerhead”
Stone Temple Pilots/”Plush”
Profile
“WIOG FM102” Date: Saturday, May 23, 1992 4:42PM Format: top 40 DJ: Dave Winston
About This Aircheck
WIOG’s top 40 format dates back to 1979 on its original home on the class A 106.3 Saginaw facility. It moved to the much stronger, grandfathered class B 102.5 facility in September 1986 via a format swap sending easy listening WGER-FM from 102.5 to the weaker 106.3 and top 40 WIOG going the reverse direction.
At this point in 1992, as often pointed out in previous posts, the top 40 format nationally was really on a decline with many markets losing outlets — particular ones shifting to hot AC as the hot format in the industry at the time. In 1992, WIOG was walking that line as it had shifted to playing “the hits without the rap” as its positioner. So, musically and imaging, it was kind of safe — and bland as a result.
Station Contest: For this Memorial Day weekend back then, it was a “Joyride Weekend,” where callers could win a copy of Roxette’s “Joyride” album (CD or cassette!) and qualify to win the grand prize of a Yamaha scooter.
Mariah Carey/”Can’t Let Go”
Howard Jones/”Lift Me Up”
Legal ID: WIOG 102.5 Bay City-Saginaw-Midland-Flint
John Mellencamp/”Ain’t Even Done With The Night”
Vanessa Williams/”Save The Best For Last”
Wilson Phillips/”Hold On”
Michael Bolton/”Steel Bars”
Phil Collins/”In The Air” (extended mix)
Bryan Adams/”Thought I’d Died And Gone To Heaven”
Stevie B/”Because I Love You (The Postman Song)”
RTZ/”All You’ve Got”
Profile
“Magic 95, Today’s Best Music” Date: Friday, May 22, 1998 11:31AM Format: Top 40 DJ: Jeremy
About This Aircheck
The KMGZ calls and “Magic 95” brand go back to November 1 1982 in Lawton. Though, the technical records at the FCC are a bit confusing as KMGZ has operated on two different facilities operating on 95.3FM — the first one operated from 1982 to 1992 and was then upgraded and moved to 99.5 as soft AC KBZQ “99.5 the Breeze.” A newly licensed station operating on 95.3 came on at the same time and took the KMGZ calls, format, and “Magic 95” name. Technically, the current 95.3 facility only dates back to 1992. From a listener perspective, however, KMGZ “Magic 95” has been running on 95.3 from 1982 through the present.
This particular aircheck is the Friday before the long Memorial Day weekend. Not so uncommon for the time was “Today’s Best Music” as part of the branding (i.e., Z100 at the top of this post), though KMGZ also uses “15 years of today’s best music” on the aircheck, which ties in with KMGZ’s 1982 beginnings 15 and half years before this aircheck.
Station Contest: This holiday’s weekend contest was a “Movie Soundtrack Weekend,” where the 9th caller gets the soundtrack from either “Godzilla,” the animated “Quest For Camelot,” or “City Of Angels.”
Sheryl Crow/”A Change Would Do You Good”
The Notorious B.I.G. (Featuring Ma$e & Puff Daddy)/”Mo Money Mo Problems”
Edwin McCain/”I’ll Be”
Spin Doctors/”Two Princes”
Legal ID: KMGZ 95.3 Lawton
Aerosmith/”Cryin’”
Brandy & Monica/”The Boy Is Mine”
Natalie Imbruglia/”Torn”
Will Smith/”Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”
Profile
As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts.